New candidate

[Jdashiell]

I am scheduled for CI surgery on my right ear March 24th. I am currently bilaterally with HAs. I have progressive severe hearing loss in both ears and speech discrimination dropped below 50% on my right side. Left side is at 52% so I expect the left side CI is in the near future.

 

I and concerned about surgery recovery. What is "typical"? I know, I know everyone is different, I would like to know if two weeks post surgery is "typically" OK to travel. I have a business trip exactly two weeks after surgery and hope to attend. I guess the surgeon, who I will meet up with 1 week post surgery will either cleat me or not.

 

Thanks

 

Joe 

[Mary Beth]

Welcome Joe!

I was implanted on my right side last February and on my left side this past October. It's been a great journey! My surgeon prohibited flying for 6 weeks post surgery so if your business trip involves flying be sure to ask your surgeon. I returned to work one week after surgery. There were still restrictions about sneezing, blowing my nose, lifting more than 5-10 pounds and flying for 6 weeks.

Welcome!

Mary Beth

[Kara of Canada]

Yes much agreed Mary Beth!! Welcome Joe. This is a great group of people and we will do our best to answer your questions. This question however is best for your surgeon. We all have different medical histories and require different lengths of time for recoveries. I needed 21 days before I was really up and about. I was implanted in November last year and activated in December. I am loving my CI and it has exceeded all my expectations. I still have a long way to go but I am really loving it!! Good luck with your surgery.

[Ivana Marinac]

Hello Joe,

 

welcome to the Hearpeers

About conditions of going to your business trip you should talk with your surgeon definitely because he or she is responsible for the success of your implantation. Like Mary Beth already wrote you, there are individual recommendations regarding the postoperative behaviour and it depends - on your surgeon's recommendations.

Technically, it is enough for fibrin glue very short time to harden - this glue secures the electrode to remain at the inserted place.

It can, however, be as short as 1 week but also longer 3-4 or up to 6 weeks.

Another reason which is why it is not possible to answer your question with 100% accuracy is because certain group of patients experience episode(s) of dizziness which is require that you do not drive or fly immediately after the operation. 

[Ms_D]

Hi and welcome to the club!  Looks like several folks have answered your question. :-)  My surgeon told me to be out of work for at least two weeks.  She had told me that although folks tend to be back to their normal self 24 hours after surgery, she recommend being out for at least two weeks.  I know this have nothing to do with travels, but warning you the surgeon may tell you no working for two weeks.  I remember even 2 weeks post-surgery, it still hurt when I turn my neck a little bit to check for oncoming cars when I was driving.  So keep that in mind that if you are driving, there may be a bit of discomfort.  Long trips that you drive on may not be very comfortable.  

[Sandy]

Hi Joe. Welcome to Hearpeers. This is a great group of people who will do their best to answer your questions. I was operated on two years ago and it's been a fantastic journey. To answer your question regarding flying, for me I flew home two days after my surgery with instructions of no sneezing and no blowing my nose. Each surgeon is different. I was activated six weeks after the surgery.

[Adam]

Welcome to hearpeers Joe

I am not going to repeat what has already been said. I totally agree with the advice. I took a week off from work. Had my surgery on a Thursday and by Monday had my legs back under me, so to speak. Feel free to share as much or as little as you would like about yourself. Looking forward to getting to know you.

Adam

[Jdashiell]

Thanks for all the info everyone.

I am trying to ask the surgeon his thoughts without having to schedule an appointment $$ ;-)

[Adam]

I can understand Tom,

Money is scare for many these days. This is a very big life changing decision. I would try to find a way to schedule an appointment with your surgeon, if at all possible

[Jdashiell]

Great news - for me at least.

The surgeon says I will be able to fly one week after surgery! So, I will be able to attend my business meeting.

29 days to surgery and counting!

[Adam]

That is awesome news Tom.

Now you get to develop your patience while waiting for surgery.

[Kara of Canada]

Great news! Keep us posted. Ask as many questions as you like we will do our best to answer them.

[Sandy]

Great news! Do keep us posted and we are hear to support you, so ask as many questions as you need.

[Ivana Marinac]

Great - so we can clearly say there are surgeons who do not ask longer period of not flying after the CI implantation.

[Mary Beth]

It's amazing how much variation there is in surgical technique, incision closing, restrictions, activation waiting periods, activation and mapping schedules ........

It's a good thing we are so flexible. Smile.

[Adam]

I think a lot has to do with the patient. My doc wanted to wait for 6 weeks before activation as I had a number of surgeries before that. Wanted to make sure the swelling had gone down enough

[Cara Mia]

It's amazing how much variation there is in surgical technique, incision closing, restrictions, activation waiting periods, activation and mapping schedules ........

It's a good thing we are so flexible. Smile.

I also surprised with this "diversity". At the beginning I thought that there is a strict protocol, but..... For example, during my surgery I had no implant bed drilled. My surgeon formed a subperiosteum pocket to fixate my implant. No sutures at all. And my first mapping today was postponed to the next week.

Pretty stupid situation - I had some interesting and unusual things happened to me over the last week after my activation. I wanted to discuss it here but had no time. When I discussed it with my audi, she called my doc and I ended up in an urgent care ward (was delivered there on a wheel chair). Was sentenced to many lab tests and CT scan to be released in 4 hours as they found that I completely healthy person. And I knew it for sure before all that hassle.

Better if I'd find time to discuss all of that on the forum before reporting it to my audi. Anyway will do that as I got no answer on my questions what it was with me.

[Adam]

Just very glad that everything turned out ok. Better safe than sorry. The extra week will give you more practice

[Mary Beth]

Cara,

That sounds scary. I hope you feel fine now.

[Adam]

Make sure you bring that notebook with you to mapping. The more information the Audi has the better

[Kara of Canada]

Wow Cara sounds like your on the roller coaster!! Take it easy and keep up the good work!!

[Ivana Marinac]

 

 

It's amazing how much variation there is in surgical technique, incision closing, restrictions, activation waiting periods, activation and mapping schedules ........

It's a good thing we are so flexible. Smile.

 

 

I also surprised with this "diversity". At the beginning I thought that there is a strict protocol, but..... For example, during my surgery I had no implant bed drilled. My surgeon formed a subperiosteum pocket to fixate my implant. No sutures at all. And my first mapping today was postponed to the next week.

Pretty stupid situation - I had some interesting and unusual things happened to me over the last week after my activation. I wanted to discuss it here but had no time. When I discussed it with my audi, she called my doc and I ended up in an urgent care ward (was delivered there on a wheel chair). Was sentenced to many lab tests and CT scan to be released in 4 hours as they found that I completely healthy person. And I knew it for sure before all that hassle.

Better if I'd find time to discuss all of that on the forum before reporting it to my audi. Anyway will do that as I got no answer on my questions what it was with me.

 

Well, this show how live this field of medicine is - any progress can be expressed in many ways so each one tries the best possible way where patient wouldn't be harmed.

This is actually very good - large series of patients and fresh ideas made great progress.

 

Cara:

Your audi sounds like very eager woman.

[Sandy]

Like Adam said, it's better to be safe than sorry. I'm glad everything is okay.

[Cara Mia]

I am fine completely. And for me my last adventure was about to keep docs and my audiologist (she is amazing) safe than sorry.

 

On the next day after my activation I noticed that something unusual started to happen to me. I was more curious than concerned about this.

 

First, I got some episode when I could not control my articulation. I was speaking actively, but it was neither voluntary nor intelligible (like It was some unknown foreign language). After I stopped and started over, I had no problem with my speech. At the beginning I thought that it happened because I was interrupted with a question while I was very concentrated doing something else. But later I got another similar episode without being in any tension.

In total, I had four such episodes during the week between activation and the 1st mapping appointment.

 

Second, again on the day after activation I noticed that I feel uneasy with my hand writing. This "symptom" had disappeared since then, but now I write the letter D differently - weird and funny.

 

Third, now when I am typing, my right hand hits the wrong keys (not always, just periodically to make it noticeable for me). I miss the correct key only one step up or one step to the left. That happens the same way for letters or numbers. And I have no such problem if I look on keyboard. No problem at all with my left hand. Over the several days this problem is also almost disappeared. Today I had only two such typos.

 

So, I told my audiologist about that to hear her opinion if it can be some kind of balance problem, result of overstimulation, or both. For me, all that "symptoms" together point to a some kind of dystaxia that should mean some functional changes in the cerebellum due to the changes in my cochlea or/and the auditory nerve exposure. The docs disregard my writing/typing issues. They decided to pay attention to my speech problem and rule out a possibility of transitional ischemic attack in case if I have any clot blockage after my surgery. I still believe that their concerns had not so much base considering many other factors. They find nothing.

 

Ok, anyway it is good to know that you can get professional attention very fast if needed, that my implant sitting inside nicely, as well as to get one more proof that I am doing well. Now, they want me to go to a neurologist for more detailed check up. I am sure that will be an interesting experience for me. I like to talk to docs. But honestly, I still think it is waste of time and resources.

And I am not sure I will get the answer to my question if it's possible that these episodes were a mild manifestation of the balance problems due to surgery or the nerve overstimulation.

[Ivana Marinac]

Right hand means left hemisphere after crossing the midway.

Mmm... Strange languages?